I have a new collection of short fantasy fiction, just out fromBook View Cafe.And am quietly, quiveringly proud of it. I hope you'll enjoy it, too. You can download a free sample from the BVC site.

Here's the skinny:

The vampire has known only evil since he was made, until an unlikely friendship reconnects him with life… Two women mourning two dead mothers tread the boundaries between grief and obsession… A ghoulish spirit haunts a refugee in Renaissance Venice… A healer discovers a dying man with the heart of a dragon on her doorstep… Two boys travel back in time to discover the true nature of Tyrannosaurus rex… A mother vampire, struggling to raise two vampire children in Hollywood, encounters her biggest challenge yet: the PTA.

I finally sat down and read the first of D. B. Jackson's "Thieftaker" novels - a warlock in pre-Revolutionary Boston. (I enjoyed it immensely - review will follow.) Here he discusses the historical background and challenges of weaving together a fantastical story with real events. Even if you haven't read the book/s, the article is worth taking a look at, if only for the richness of detail and context that any historical fantasy -- or fiction of any kind -- merits.

1763: all of Europe is at war with each other and the Turks are storming toward Vienna. The magical protection of Britain requires that Georgina Kirkwood, a potential Merlin, leave the secret Pendragon Society and disguise herself as man to fight for England.

Wounded and no longer able to carry a sword, Georgina is recruited by the King as a spy in the American Colonies. Transplanted to a land and people vibrant with life and ideas, she begins to question her loyalties. Only her love for Major Roderick Wythe gives her the grounding and stability to work with Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Sam Adams and many other notable leaders to discover what being the Merlin truly means and to determine who she is protecting from whom.

Irene Radford has been writing stories ever since she figured out what a pencil was for. A member of an endangered species, a native Oregonian who lives in Oregon, she and her husband make their home in Welches, Oregon where deer, bears, coyotes, hawks, owls, and woodpeckers feed regularly on their back deck.

A museum trained historian, Irene has spent many hours prowling pioneer cemeteries deepening her connections to the past. Raised in a military family she grew up all over the US and learned early on that books are friends that don't get left behind with a move. Her interests and reading range from ancient history, to spiritual meditations, to space stations, and a whole lot in between.

I'm particularly delighted to see that Judith Tarr's Lord of Two Lands has been released in ebook format from Book View Cafe.

Years ago, I was putting my life back together and facing the inevitability of having to work full time, being yet too raw for anything too harsh and finding my marketable job skills sadly out of date. I was on my way to an interview for a position that sounded like it might be a great entry, and this involved driving north on Highway 1 from west Los Angeles to Malibu. I had allowed plenty of time, but what I hadn't counted on was the traffic congestion due to post-winter-mudslide road repairs. We stopped. And went a little. And stopped -- actually, there was a long section where we stopped a whole lot more than we went. I so much did not want to be on that highway, and there was nothing I could do about it.

As fortune would had it, I'd just been to the library and checked out Lord of Two Lands. Every time we'd stop, I'd read a paragraph, bracing the book on the steering wheel so I could see when traffic began to move again. I was probably breaking a dozen laws, even though I was careful to put the book down before taking my foot off the brake. Perhaps this seems like damning with faint praise that I was able to put it down, but those long stretches of being in Egypt instead of going-nowhere-on-a-highway kept me calm and happy.

(Eventually, I made it past the congestion and up to Malibu. And got the job, which turned out to be a great fit for me and me for them, and gave me readily salable skills when I moved north.)

I loved the book so much, I went out and got my own copy. And now you can, too, although I don't recommend reading it while stuck in traffic. Here's the skinny:

In 336 B.C., Egypt lies under the yoke of Persia. But from the north a spirit of fire moves across the world. His name is Alexander, and he is the destined conqueror of the Persian Empire--and the king foretold of Egypt. Meriamon, daughter of the last Pharaoh, journeys out of Egypt to find him and bring him home. From the battlefield of Issus to the siege of Tyre, from the founding of Alexandria to the divine revelations of Siwah, Meriamon both leads and follows her divine charge, who becomes her friend and her chosen king.

If that isn't inducement enough, Lord of Two Lands was nominated for the World Fantasy Award.